Hound dies after New Year’s Day hunt spills onto dual carriageway

The dual carriageway was blocked at around 2.45pm yesterday, Wednesday, January 1, after reports of animals blocking the road.

It has now emerged this is because dogs involved in a hunt had run onto the road at Barrowby, near Newark. One hound sadly died at the scene.

A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Police said: “Nottinghamshire Police were called at around 2.45pm on 1 January 2020 following reports of dogs running on the A1 in Newark.

“The road was temporarily closed by officers in both directions, with one dog quickly recovered.

“However, a dog was reported dead at the scene.

“The road reopened around 4.15pm.”

A hunt saboteur group posted pictures online of police recovering dogs from the busy road and has criticised the South Notts Hunt group who the hound belonged to.

A spokesperson for Nottingham Hunt Saboteurs said: “We’ve been informed by concerned locals that hounds from the South Notts Hunt have run onto the A1 near Newark and sadly one of them has been killed.

“If the hunt were doing anything other than hunting a live animal they wouldn’t have been anywhere near this busy dual carriageway.”

South Notts Hunt have confirmed the dog was part of their group and have called incidents of this nature “very rare”.

A spokesperson for the South Notts Hunt said: “We can confirm that one of our hounds sadly lost its life after being hit by a vehicle following our New Year’s Day meet.

“The hunt was trail-hunting to comply with the Hunting Act when it would appear that a few hounds drifted away from the scent that had been laid for them and found themselves on a road.”

“Thankfully incidents of this nature are very rare but it was, of course, distressing for all those concerned.

Our thoughts are with the driver of the vehicle and with our hunt staff who devote their lives to looking after the hounds on a daily basis and care deeply for each and every one of the pack.”